Category Archives: parent/teacher apps

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Socrative

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Socrative has been acquired by MasteryConnect. Read the press release here: https://www.masteryconnect.com/learn-more/press_releases/MasteryConnect-Acquires-Socrative.pdf

Still FREE and getting better with every upgrade – Socrative, an app that turns any device with a web browser into a student response clicker. I have been a fan of Socrative since I first discovered it two years ago. It’s one of those apps that I wish had been around when I was still in the classroom. Last July, Socrative added two additional quiz features. # 1 – Teachers can now add images to their questions. #2 – The system can now grade short answer questions. Teachers just input the acceptable answers and the system does the rest. 🙂

The Socrative website and app are unbelievably cool – they turn any device with a web browser (iPhone, iPad, laptops) into a student response clicker. If a teacher has access to any kind of wireless lab, he/she can engage the entire class in a game or quiz and watch the results in real-time. Teachers begin by using their teacher app or logging into t.socrative.com with their email and password. Once logged in, teachers are assigned a room number to share with their students. Students log in using their student app or at m.socrative.com and enter the “virtual room number” provided by the teacher. Teachers initiate an activity and students respond on their devices. Multiple choice and short answer quizzes are easy to create – types of questions can be mixed. Teachers can also choose to run the quiz as a Space Race game. The students’ responses are visible to the teacher in real-time. Teachers can see what each child answered individually as well as what the group answered collectively. And the best part is… the app grades, graphs the results, and generates a report as an Excel spreadsheet or an email.

What a powerful tool for teachers – a short quiz at the end of a lesson can pinpoint what students understand and what needs to be reviewed. Hours of grading and analyzing test results are done immediately. Every student is involved – wow!

Link to new user guide: http://www.socrative.com/materials/SocrativeUserGuide.pdf

Highly recommended!

Teacher app Teacher Clicker - Socrative - Socrative           Student app Student Clicker - Socrative - Socrative

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Shadow Puppet

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Shadow PuppetUse the power of this app to create a unique Father’s Day tribute or greeting!!

Recently updated and still FREE – Shadow Puppet, a photography app which has been featured by Apple as one of the “Best New Apps” for over 6 months!  Using this app, it’s easy to create “puppets” – recorded explanations of your photos. First you choose your photos and put them in the order. Then you talk about your pictures. Everything is recorded. Finished “puppets” can be shared via email, SMS, Facebook and/or Twitter. There are so many ways for everyone to use Shadow Puppet: to teach something new, to share adventures with friends, to record children talking about their experiences, to tell the story behind old family photos, etc.

The update has many new features. Now you can include video clips, add music, search the web for images, overlay text/stickers, and more! The FREE version of the app permits you to include up to 10 photos/video clips. For $1.99 you can get Puppet Essentials which allows you to add up to 100 items to each video and have access to more drawing & decorating tools. The update made this great app even better!

The classroom uses for this app are only limited by your imagination: Take pictures of a child’s work and have him/her explain it to parents. Send pictures and voice recordings of the class field trip. Have kids give a step-by-step explanation of what happened in a science experiment. Draw & sequence pictures to retell a story. Make a “talking timeline” by sequencing photos of historical events. Have kids use it to present mini reports on any subject. Have virtual “pet day” – kids bring in pictures/recordings of their pets. Because you can use anything saved to your photo library, you can explain photos from the web, artwork created in other apps, and so much more. The possibilities for using this educational app are endless. For more suggestions go to http://get-puppet.com/education. What a fabulous resource!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shadow-puppet/id700902833?mt=8&uo=4

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ProCollage – Photo Collage Maker & Photo Stitch Creator

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procollage

FREE today only – ProCollage – Photo Collage Maker & Photo Stitch Creator, a wonderful app for creating collages! With ProCollage you can easily make creative collages with your photos and/or pictures from the internet – basically, any images that you have saved in your camera roll/photo stream. This app is incredibly intuitive and easy to use. There are three collage modes to choose from – template collage, freestyle collage, and stitching photo. All modes support up to 9 photos. In all modes it’s easy to: flip and rotate photos, add/replace photos, add text (60 colors & patterns), customize borders, corners & backgrounds, and more.
There are SO many fun uses of this app for education. Teachers, use ProCollage to make a collage of a student’s work or a collage of the school year’s highlights. Add collages of what’s happening in your classroom to your class newsletter, website, or blog. Have students use ProCollage to introduce themselves at the start of the year. Send students on a scavenger hunt of geometric shapes then have them make a ProCollage of what they found. Add a ProCollage to a report or make a ProCollage representing the main character of a book, etc. The list is only limited by your imagination! I LOVE educational apps like this – open-ended with great potential for creativity! WOW!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/procollage-photo-collage-maker/id593389475?mt=8&uo=4

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Remind 101

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Used by over 700,000 teachers…

Remind 101 a FREE iPhone/iPad app that provides a safe way for teacher to text or email parents/students. To start, a teacher goes to the Remind 101 website to add his/her class list. A unique code is generated and the teacher shares that code with parents/students. The parent or student then sends a text message with the code to subscribe to the teacher’s class. From that point on, the parent/student will receive any message that the teacher sends from Remind 101. Teachers can text or email their entire class in minutes – homework assignments, field trip reminders, etc. All phone numbers remain private –  students never see the teacher’s phone # and the teachers never see the students’ numbers. This app has been written about by NBC, NPR, Huffington Post, Edutopia, and Edweek. Wow – what a great tool for improving communications but maintaining your privacy!

Remind101 - remind101

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ICDL (International Children’s Digital Library) – Free Books for Children

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FREE – ICDL (International Children’s Digital Library) – Free Books for Children. This app brings thousands of free children’s books from 60 different countries to the iPad – it’s truly a worldwide collection of books at your fingertips. Books can be searched in a variety of ways – by age appropriateness, length (short, medium, long), genre, ratings, awards, picture vs chapter, and more. You may register if you wish, but it is not necessary. Some advantages to registering include – saving favorite books on a personal bookshelf, returning to the last page that you were reading, and selecting the language you prefer to use.

The feature that I really like is the “Browse Exhibitions” section. The exhibitions are theme based collections of books from around the world. Examples of some current themes are: Celebrating Differences, Everyone Needs Water & Water Needs Everyone, and Forever Friendship. Within each exhibition is an overview of the theme, links to the books included, descriptions of why the books are included, and related activities (in pdf format). As the world becomes more mobile, school systems are facing language barriers. For example, Chicago Public Schools has over 70 languages spoken by their students. What an awesome resource to promote worldwide citizenship and understanding!

The mission of the International Children’s Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world’s children in becoming effective members of the global community – who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas — by making the best in children’s literature available online free of charge. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children’s books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children. 

Read more @ http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

ICDL - Free Books for Children - International Children's Digital Library - ICDL Foundation

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Shadow Puppet

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Shadow Puppet

Recently updated and still FREE – Shadow Puppet, a photography app which has been featured by Apple as one of the “Best New Apps” for over 6 moths!  Using this app, it’s easy to create “puppets” – recorded explanations of your photos. First you choose your photos and put them in the order. Then you talk about your pictures. Everything is recorded. Finished “puppets” can be shared via email, SMS, Facebook and/or Twitter. There are so many ways for everyone to use Shadow Puppet: to teach something new, to share adventures with friends, to record children talking about their experiences, to tell the story behind old family photos, etc.

The update has many new features. Now you can include video clips, add music, search the web for images, overlay text/stickers, and more! The FREE version of the app permits you to include up to 10 photos/video clips. For $1.99 you can get Puppet Essentials which allows you to add up to 100 items to each video and have access to more drawing & decorating tools. The update made this great app even better!

The classroom uses for this app are only limited by your imagination: Take pictures of a child’s work and have him/her explain it to parents. Send pictures and voice recordings of the class field trip. Have kids give a step-by-step explanation of what happened in a science experiment. Draw & sequence pictures to retell a story. Make a “talking timeline” by sequencing photos of historical events. Have kids use it to present mini reports on any subject. Have virtual “pet day” – kids bring in pictures/recordings of their pets. Because you can use anything saved to your photo library, you can explain photos from the web, artwork created in other apps, and so much more. The possibilities for using this educational app are endless. For more suggestions go to http://get-puppet.com/education. What a fabulous resource!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shadow-puppet/id700902833?mt=8&uo=4

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Pocketbooth – the photobooth that fits in your pocket

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pocketbooth

FREE today – Pocketbooth – the photobooth that fits in your pocket, an app that turns your iPhone/iPad into a 1950s-era vintage photobooth. Pocketbooth takes a series of photos (a few seconds apart) to create photo strips of your special events. The app includes five photo effects (1975, antique, B&W, color, sepia), two paper types, and two border styles. There are additional filters/borders available as in-app purchases. Pocketbooth can use either the front or the rear facing camera of your device. Photo strips can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, email, or they can be saved to your camera roll. They can  be printed on a wireless printer or you can have them professionally printed/mailed to your friends for an additional charge. Pocketbooth was chosen Starbuck’s App of the Week, featured as “New and Noteworthy” by Apple, and listed as one of 2010’s Hottest Apps – iTunes Rewind. What a fabulous app to have for your next birthday party, family reunion, etc.

And teachers… how cool would it be to have a photobooth in your classroom? It would be perfect for taking pictures of special events – Dr. Seuss Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Wacky Hair Day, Silly Hat Day, etc. The kids could help make the props. 🙂 It would also be great for special projects – animal reports (kids dress as their animal), biographies (kids dress as their person), the 100th day (kids dress as if they are 100 years old), etc. How fun!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocketbooth-photobooth-that/id385145330?mt=8&uo=4

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TED – TED conferences

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Parents/Teachers – here is an app for you (and the kids)!

TED started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It is now a nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading. Here is information on 2 apps that will bring the world of TED to the device of your choice!

TED - original

tedRiveting talks by remarkable people and FREE to the world. Connect with the official TED app for iPhone/iPad. Access more than 1,400 TEDTalk videos with more added every week! When you open the app, you will see a wide variety of featured talks – Where is Google going  next? by Larry Page, A new way to grow bone by Molly Steven, Teach teachers how to create magic by Christopher Emdin, and so on. There are about 60 talks to choose from. Click on a title that interests you to get additional information about that talk: the length of the talk, a short synopsis, related talks, and related tags. Then you can watch the talk, save it, bookmark it, or share it. The app permits you to browse the entire library at any time – even when you are offline. You can browse by tag or by language. TEDTalks are subtitled in over 100 languages!  You can create your own playlist or the app can create one for you based on your mood and how much time you have to listen. A fabulous resource for lifelong learners!!

TED - TED Conferences

And now, Ted has a new initiative for teachers and students called TED-Ed. Teachers can create lessons around any TED-Ed original, TED Talk, or YouTube video and/or start a TED-Ed Club in their school.

From their site: “TED-Ed aims to amplify the voices and ideas of teachers and students around the world. TED-Ed’s commitment to creating lessons worth sharing is an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas. With this philosophy in mind, and with the intention of supporting teachers and sparking the curiosity of learners around the world, TED-Ed is the newest of TED’s initiatives.”

Connect to TED-Ed here: Lessons Worth Sharing | TED-Ed

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ClassDojo

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Class Dojo just added FREE messaging! A teacher can now send “direct” messages to individuals and/or “broadcast” messages. This great FREE app just got better!!

ClassDojo is a FREE & fabulous tool that helps improve classroom behaviors. Rewarding good behavior in real-time is easy – all it takes is a click. To use ClassDojo, you only need one device (computer, smart phone, a laptop, or a tablet) and an internet connection. It is very easy to set up. Each student on your class list is assigned a cute, monster-like avatar. Kids earn points for positive behaviors and lose points for negative behaviors. ClassDojo is also fully customizable so you can delete behaviors from the original list and/or add your own behaviors. As you use it, it automatically logs any data that you input. This data can be used to generate behavior reports to share with parents and administrators. How awesome is that? You can go into a meeting/conference with reports in hand! And now, parents can check online to see what kind of day their child is having.

If I were still in the classroom, I would enter my class list twice – once for data on work/study habits and the other for data on behaviors. I would make my habits/behaviors match exactly what was on my report cards. Then as I used the app, I would also be gathering data for my report cards. At the end of the grading period, I would just print out the date and enter it on the report cards – how easy!  I would also have the data (in a printed report) to be able to back up any grade on the card.  “As you can see Mrs. Doe, Jane only turned in her homework 56% of the time.”  Instant data would also be available for the RTI process, IEPs or any other team meeting on a child. What a powerful tool for teachers! An educational app that has the ability to positively impact the learning environment – LOVE it!!

Check out the website for more information: www.classdojo.com

Highly recommended !!

ClassDojo - Class Twist Inc

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Science 360 for iPad

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Science 360

FREE from the National Science Foundation comes Science 360 for iPad – scientific images and videos from around the world. This educational app covers a range of topics and breaking news from NSF-funded institutions.  New content is added weekly. Users can browse the app’s unique 360 display board to learn about something new or they can find specific content by searching keywords. It’s easy to save images and videos for later use right within the app – perfect for teachers who are gathering resources for a unit. The quality of the images is spectacular and they are available in HD for download to your iPad. Keep abreast of the latest scientific discoveries with this app – a great resource!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/science360-for-ipad/id439928181?mt=8&uo=4